Cellular shades have become a popular type of window covering in residential and commercial applications. The shades are aesthetically attractive and also provide improved insulation across a window or other type of opening due to their cellular construction. Cellular shades have assumed various forms, including a plurality of longitudinally extending tubes made of a flexible or semi-rigid material. Cellular shades can, for instance, be mounted at the top of a door or window for extending across an architectural opening. When the shade is in an expanded state, the tubes cover the opening. The shade can be retracted or drawn into a contracted state wherein the tubes collapse into a stack. When viewed from the front (i.e., interior of a room) this stack may have an appearance similar to stacked slats of a Venetian blind. Typically, the width of the stack is half of the overall perimeter of the cell and projects from the glass side to the room side since the cords are normally disposed through the connecting point between each cell.
In the past, individual cells in a cellular shade have been constructed using various techniques and methods. The construction of cellular shades, for instance, is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,767,615; 4,861,404; 4,677,012; 5,701,940; 5,691,031; 4,603,072; 4,732,630; 4,388,354; 5,228,936; 5,339,882; 6,068,039; 6,033,504; and 5,753,338, which are all incorporated herein by reference.
The design emphasis in home and building structures has maintained pressure on the industry to continue to create unique aesthetically attractive coverings for architectural openings. Although the introduction of cellular shades has greatly benefited the industry in this regard, there remains a need to create cellular shades having a unique appearance for providing further options to consumers. For instance, most cellular shades are made with closed cells that have a relatively small volume. Increasing the size of the cells creates configurations that are not aesthetically pleasing, because the cells become two wide for the architectural opening, especially when the shade is retracted. On the other hand, although Roman shades can be made with large billowing front faces, Roman shades do not provide the insulating properties that cellular shades provide and typically do not retract into a tight consolidated configuration. In addition, many Roman shades have drawstrings that remain exposed on the backside of the covering. For safety reasons, these types of shades are not preferred and may in fact not be permitted under local or national laws. Thus, a need exists for a cellular shade assembly capable of having relatively large cells while remaining aesthetically appealing. A need also exists for a cellular shade assembly that not only can accommodate relatively large cells, but also can be made such that the drawstrings are not exposed on any of the surfaces of the shade assembly.